Day 1 – Arrival, (7 July 2015)
Good evening our avid followers from England! We’ve arrived safely at the Janoda Foundation headquarters after a 48 hour journey… Yes, you heard it right- 48 hour journey. Our expedition began at Broadmarsh Bus Station where we all gathered at 11pm and caught the National Express bus to Heathrow Airport. We were all so excited but tried to get some rest, some more successfully than others!
Arriving at Heathrow at 3am, the positive atmosphere disappeared somewhat as we realised we had a 6 hour wait for our plane at 9:30. That time in Heathrow was spent sitting on the floor, playing cards, drinking coffee and traipsing our way round WH Smith, trying to figure out what sort of shop it actually is. We patiently waited, helped by caffeine and too many e-numbers and the time soon came for us to board. This was the 9 and a half hour flight to Mumbai and we were all ready and raring to go…until the first hour had passed when tiredness finally kicked in. On the plane, we all attempted to sleep but were drawn to the countless films available for us, the reason many of us were preoccupied for those first few hours. After a strenuous and screen- filled first flight, we arrived at Mumbai airport to be greeted by what seemed to be a disorganised border control, a complete contrast to the orderly nature of Heathrow. Staff in security uniform searched us here there and everywhere before we were sent through finally to explore the magical airport of India’s capital, Mumbai. Being the cultured young people we are we thought we’d give a go at trying some of the local delicacies: KFC and Costa! Having eaten as much popcorn chicken as possible and having ventured through the delights of Mumbai Duty Free it was time for our second plane to Columbo, Sri Lanka.
A little more cramped but a lot less drawn out only taking 2 and a half hours landing in Sri Lanka at 5am (local time) to be greeted by crowds of locals all asking if we were in need of a taxi. With one already booked we changed our currencies and left the cool air conditioned delight of the airport. Then it hit us. the incredible heat. We’d barely walked 10m before we had to stop for a break and a few photos. Karu, founder of The Janoda foundation, greeted us warmly and then led us to his taxi to drive the 200 odd kilometers to Hambantata where our refuge awaited. It may have been a 6 hour journey but it was helped by regular stops and a strong air conditioning; one may even say it was enjoyable. We stopped for breakfast before pulling over to explore the wondrous working world of Moonstone mining and cinnamon production. It was fascinating, truly fascinating. Often when we shop at supermarkets we complain about the ludicrous prices of cinnamon as a spice however after seeing how it is manufactured we were surprised it didn’t cost even more. Whilst two men were forced to spend 8 hours per day by a searing oven with black smoke billowing out; a husband and wife meanwhile toiled away the hours sat on the floor creating cinnamon sticks, oil and powder. Our final leg of the journey began by driving past the sight of annihilation from the 2004 Boxing day Tsunami, a real reminder of why we were here. Only foundations of houses remained and graves lined some of the streets. We came across a monument which stood as a reminder of the lives lost that day whilst the donation of a magnificent statue from the Japanese took our breath away. One of the highlights, however, of this long travel time came just after these sights when we stopped at the beach to watch the pole fishers at work before a quick paddle and loads more photos amongst the sand and sea. Our journey was almost at an end but our adventure was only just beginning and so far it had been eventful to say the least and thoroughly enjoyable however if we haven’t mentioned it already, the heat has been intense. As we close Molly, Natasha and I (Elliot =D ) would like to say hi to our parents and make sure everyone else’s parents know that we’re all fine and so excited for the next few days!
We’ll keep the blog updated; speak to you all soon, the Emmanuel Sri Lanka Squad 2015 😀
